Swimming facilities, whether in pools, rivers, ponds, lakes, and oceans, often provide ladders for people to enter and exit deep water. These ladders may be attached to the end of docks, piers, or even free-floating platforms anchored in the middle of a lake. These ladders are usually slippery and require a person to exert substantial strength to pull their body out of the water and onto the ladder. Persons who have trouble using ladders, including the handicapped, elderly, and even small children are effectively banned from participating in recreational water activities associated with deep-water facilities. The ladder also fails to provide any underwater support on which a person can rest or participate in deep water recreational activities. People, as well as their pets, enjoy jumping and swimming from docks, but often are in danger of drowning when they cannot climb back on the dock or find a place to rest, and are too tired to swim a long distance to shore.
Therefore, a need exists for a device that can facilitate the entry and exit of people and animals from a body of water to an above water structure by allowing the person and animals to swim directly onto a submerged platform and walk up out of the water by way of steps or a ramp. A need also exists to provide a device that gives underwater support to persons engaged in the recreational water activities in deep water on which the person can stand to participate in the water activities.
On many waterways, there are specific rules and regulations relating to the attachment of items that permanently extend off of a dock, some of which entirely prohibit underwater platforms that extend out from the dock. Therefore, there is a further need for a submergible activity platform that is integrated into the dock so as not to extend away from the dock to pose an unnecessary hazard to watercraft, and for a submergible platform that can be withdrawn from the water when not in use.
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,559,762, a safety ladder is secured to a pylon of a dock, pier or other floating structure on a body of water that can be used to move between the water and the above water structure. However, the ladder fails to provide any support that extends under the water to provide a stable support platform on which persons may engage in recreational water activities. Additionally, such a ladder is extremely difficult for handicapped or disabled persons to use in entering or exiting from deeper water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,465 discloses a retractable walk-in swimming pool ladder designed specifically for use with swimming pools. As with the above-noted patent, the retractable ladder fails to provide any support means extending under the water for persons to engaged in recreational water activities, but rather, simply provides an access between the pool deck and the water. The individual must still pull his body up out of the water to climb up the steps of the ladder.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,088,123 discloses a hydraulically operated pool lift ladder which has a single narrow step that is lowered and raised to help a person enter and exit the water. Because of the narrow step, there is no space for allowing a person to engage in water activities while being supported by the lift step.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,088,123 discloses a retractable platform for swimming pools. The device extends substantially away from the pool deck and does not disclose any means for integrating the submergible platform into the deck so as to form a usable part of the deck when removed from the water.
Thus, there is a need for a submergible support platform integrated into the dock that may be lowered to provide access the water and raised to form a part of the dock above the water.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a water recreation dock with a movable platform that moves between a lowered position that provides convenient access into and out of the water, and a raised position forming a part of the dock above the water to permit use of the movable platform for other activities then entering and exiting from the water.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a submergible activity platform that allows persons to swim directly onto and off of the platform for support in the water while engaged in recreational water activities.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a submergible activity platform integrated into the dock so that the platform does not extend out from the dock when submerged.